The police must have canvassed every inch of Wayne manor while Bruce and Selina lay in the bed, trying to get a wink of sleep with the noise from the police and the memory of the Talon in their bedroom. There were a few discoveries that would make Bruce shiver for the next month.
Firstly, in nearly every other room in the manor, including the secret room they had found, places in the ceiling looked like they had been dug out with chisels, leaving an ideal crevice to hide a camera in. The trees and hedges outside Wayne manor that looked so innocent and beautiful; Bruce remembered his father wanting to cut them down, but their building permit not allowing them to. The reason? A person hooked on top of any of the foliage, quite possibly the Talon, was in the optimal position to glance right through the windows and into the mansion. Most chilling of all though, was the discovery of several throwing knives in a hiding spot in the basement, tucked away in case they needed to be pulled out. For all anyone knew, Talons could have been coming in and out of the manor for months.
Jim Gordon was getting tired of making trips to and from Wayne manor. It seemed like a weekly ritual to him. He and Harvey Bullock pulled up in a police car at the front of the manor, and were talking to Alfred about the break-in.
"Did you see the intruder?" asked Jim.
Alfred sighed, having circled around the topic for what seemed like hours. "I only saw a dark shadow when he leapt out the window. You should be interrogating Master Bruce and Selina Kyle; they saw who the man was."
"I think you and I both know that's a lost cause."
Meanwhile, Selina and Bruce had gotten permission to get out of bed. Bruce had barely said a word, instead, thinking about what the Talon had said and what he did to Selina. He had been waiting for hours to spring back into action, and the first place Bruce darted to was the secret Court of Owls room. The safe was gone, completely lifted out of the wall and taken by the Talon, and bookshelves from the living room were moved in to make it look like the Waynes were using the room.
"How much are you going to tell the cops?" Selina asked, nudging Bruce. She would rather shoot herself than say it out loud, but Bruce looked kind of cute like that. He was tired, but frantic and worried and much more mature than any kid his age. Selina always admired that in him.
"We can't. If they find out and kill the Owls, I'll never find out who killed my parents."
Selina nodded. "So then B, where to next?"
"If we still had the map, we could have checked out some of the places they marked."
"There's a room in Barbara's apartment that's locked. If it's another Owl room, it'll use the same key. Might have a map in it too."
"They won't let us leave."
With a grin and a wink, Selina draped her arm around Bruce's shoulder, making Bruce blush just the tiniest bit. "Not sure how to break it to you kid, but it's not that hard to slip in and out of this place."
Bruce shot Selina a look, but that just made her smirk. He dug the key out of the cabinet in his bedroom, and she led him to the manor's regency room. When she saw that there were no cops around looking for things, Selina slid the window open and looked down to the dirt ground below.
"Observe." said Selina, sitting on the windowsill to dangle her legs out of the window. With one effortless motion, she took off, landing on the bough of the tree below her. Hooked onto the tree, she turned back to Bruce, grinning. "Your turn."
Bruce sat the exact same way Selina did on the window ledge, his legs dangling much more awkwardly than hers, making her laugh a little bit. He gripped the ledge of the window, trying to find a good footing, and took off. It took him less than half a second in the air to realize he didn't take off hard enough. He stretched himself out as much as he could, trying to grab the tree, but Bruce didn't have Selina's experience. His hand slipped, and he fell on is back onto the dirt ground.
Selina jumped down beside him and grinned. "It's okay. I don't think cat style is your thing anyway."
Bruce groaned, trying to sit up. "I'll think of something for myself." He had always wondered how Selina was able to do things like that. In a few ways, she was what he aspired to be with his combat and willpower training.
As soon as Bruce stood up, Selina left for Barbara's apartment. Bruce followed her for a short walk, still through the same decent part of town as Wayne manor. Within a few minutes, they found themselves at Barbara's apartment, and facing another difficult climbing part for Bruce. He looked at the wall in front of him, with a few vines to hold on to, then back at Selina. The street thief noticed the fear in his eyes and grinned, amused at his awkwardness.
"Why don't I go up there and get the map for you?" she said, pitying him for the parkour she put him through.
Bruce tried not to show his relief too much. "Thank you."
The billionaire handed Selina the key, and watched as she grabbed onto a vine and hoisted herself up, her foot catching on a dent in the brick. She looked completely calm and fluid, just like a cat, as she scaled the wall and crawled up onto the balcony of Barbara Keane's apartment. Ivy was there again, on the couch with Barbara, telling a story about something that happened at the Flea. The two spotted Selina and Barbara invited her to sit down. She didn't have the time.
"I'm just popping in. I need to do something." said Selina, heading straight to the secret door Barbara had shown her last time. Barbara followed her to the back, curious what she was doing. Selina got chills down her spine seeing the door in Barbara's apartment, sending memories back to her of when their troubles started.
"Where did you get that key?" Barbara asked.
Selina ignored her, jamming the bronze key into the rusted lock, and opening the door with an ominous click.
It was exactly like she and Bruce thought. It was another all-white, four-by-four square room with a safe in the middle of the opposite wall from the door and the rotting corpses of two adult owls circling around their nest. That room must have been abandoned not long before Barbara had bought the apartment, seeing the owls hadn't fully decomposed.
Barbara's mouth dropped, and she winced a little before putting her hand on Selina's shoulder.
"Wh-What is… how did you find this?"
"I have to open that safe."
As fearlessly as she could manage, Selina dashed for the safe and put her hand to the metal lock. It was the exact same combination as the safe in Wayne manor, and it was soon open to reveal a bare inside with a sheet of wizened paper, a map on one side, and a list of names on the other.
Selina turned back to Barbara, who was still trying to breathe properly. "Listen to me, Barb. You cannot tell the cops about this. If a man in an owl mask comes here and asks about the safe, blame Bruce Wayne."
Leaving Barb gawking at the open safe and white room, Selina left without a word, heading straight for the window and jumping out, grabbing vines and bricks to ease herself to the ground where Bruce was waiting.
"Well?" Bruce asked, still marveling at Selina's climbing.
Selina handed him the map, which felt identical to the one they found in Wayne manor. Bruce weighed it in his hands, and folded it open to reveal the exact same list of names with Wayne left uncrossed.
"It makes you wonder why no one found it odd that every billionaire in the city had a secret locked room." Selina sighed, trying to read the paper over Bruce's shoulder.
Bruce turned the sheet over, revealing the map. That was the only difference between Barbara's apartment and Wayne manor. Instead of every outpost having an owl stamp on it, only one did. It was the old Van Groot manor that was left abandoned after the police uncovered Mrs. Van Groot's dead body.
"Why would the Owls only check the Van Groot place?" asked Selina.
Bruce shook his head. "I went through these files. Maroni was set to own the Van Groot manor after Constance Van Groot died."
"If Maroni's name was crossed off, he might have been working with the Court. Maybe he was claiming it for them."
"Maroni's dead though. The Owls must have given up on it. If they've already set up their post, we might be able to find some clues about my parents."
Selina was silent for a minute, and Bruce wondered what she was thinking. The second he was going to ask what was wrong, she grabbed his shoulders and kissed him, her soft lips timidly grazing his. Bruce blushed, not sure what to do, and just stayed completely still while Selina kissed him, their lips connecting until she pulled away, smiling.
Bruce tried to say something, but just stammered for a few seconds until Selina said it for him.
"You looked like you could use it."
After going back to the streets, Bruce was able to hail a taxi to take them to the Van Groot manor. The ride wasn't long, and the old mansion wasn't far from Wayne manor. Most of the big, rich-people houses were clumped together, leaving the scumbags and criminals to share a district of their own. Selina was twiddling her thumbs, but Bruce couldn't think about anything, other than the fact that every time he passed a place owned by a high-society member, there was another secret room containing a safe and a map. They passed Maroni's diner, and Oswald Cobblepot's night club, and countless other mansions, knowing their residents were constantly being watched by the Court of Owls.
Bruce and Selina had to make the taxi drop them off at a random house where they would walk to the Van Groot manor. Otherwise, the cab driver might have thought they were breaking in. It was a short walk, and they soon found themselves at the old mansion.
In Gotham city, the houses didn't differ from each other much. The Waynes and Van Groots used to butt heads all the time looking for business deals since they had similar tastes. From the outside, both their mansions looked identical, and the inside was only different in layout. There wasn't anyone outside, so Bruce and Selina just casually walked in, only worrying about the occasional onlooker.
"Try looking in the bedrooms." Bruce called out to Selina, who was admiring the luxuries. "The secret room was near the bedroom in Wayne manor."
"Yeah, yeah." Selina mumbled, immediately deciding she didn't like Bruce's bossy side. The two split up to head up the stairs and down to the bedrooms. There were two, one belonging to Richard Van Groot, and the other to his wife Constance. Selina decided to circle around Constance Van Groot's bedroom, while Bruce took the former.
Mr. Van Groot had an old-timey bedroom, with walls lined with bookshelves and an old grandfather clock in the corner, no longer ticking. A photo of himself hung on the wall, with Thomas Wayne, and one other person Bruce couldn't name. First in his search, Bruce scanned the spines of the books in the wall, looking for anything pertaining to owls. After that proved fruitless, he called Selina to help him move the bookcases.
They weren't light, but after moving three bookcases to the center of the room, one of the books was hidden behind the rest of them. It was Mr. Van Groot's diary, a maroon, leather cased notebook with the man's neat handwriting scrawled on its pages. Bruce decided to flip through it.
Not seeing anything about the Court of Owls, Bruce only skimmed the first few pages, Selina watching him. Most of the pages were about Thomas Wayne, and a mechanic named Jack Buchinsky, probably the third man in the photo. Then, Bruce happened upon the word owl.
Looking back a few pages to see if he had overshot, Bruce read aloud the few passages before.
"October 24: Today, a brown owl found its way into my home. I had no way of getting it to leave, so I just left the door open so it could leave when it wished to." Bruce read, flipping through some more pages, and then continuing.
"October 29: Two days ago marked the death of my beloved son Terrance, and while I cannot bring myself to write about the mode of his death, there were deep cuts on his face and chest, almost as if they were claws. A brown feather lay in his lapel as he died, and I am almost certain that it belonged to the same owl that entered my home not long ago."
Bruce flipped again, to another article, which he read aloud to Selina. "Nov 1: I am distraught by the fact that another owl has found its way into my home, this time a big grey one."
Then another article, "Nov 3: I visited my butler in the Gotham hospital today. He was fine, but his son Jason had been brutally attacked just minutes before, leaving huge gashes and scars on his face. My guess was he would be disfigured for life, but the most chilling aspect of his attack was in the grey feather found in his lapel. I now cannot deny the fact that someone is targeting me, using owls as harbingers of terrible atrocities committed to those close to me."
Selina stared at the page with curiosity. "That is seriously messed up."
Bruce kept reading. "November 14: As yet another pitch black owl makes its way into my home, I fear for my own life. I find myself unable to sleep at night in fear that an owl will fly through my window, marking the death of someone I care about. I have to run away so the owls can't find me. It is the only hope for myself and those I care about."
"It sounds like the Court of Owls was trying to drive him insane." Selina grabbed the diary and flipped through the passages.
Bruce thought for a bit. What had Richard Van Groot done that would force the Owls to drive him insane?
Selina finished with the diary, and looked around the room, her eyes landing on the portrait on the wall. "He seemed pretty chummy with your dad."
Bruce nodded. "And someone called Jack Buchinsky."
"I know him. The paper called him the Electrocutioner. He's locked up at Arkham Asylum now, for trying to fry the police department with a fuse box."
Bruce dropped the diary in frustration. "How are we going to get into Arkham?"
"Your mom funded a wing in that, didn't she? All you have to do is say you're paying your respects."
Nodding, Bruce opened up the map in his pocket. "Let's go then."
The Arkham district was a much more shady part of town. The taxi ride there was a lot more foreboding, as the buildings that sped by gradually turned from mansions and fenced apartments to smaller buildings and condos. The population switched from a few people meandering around to roads flooded with Gothamites, all yelling and bumping into one another. As they neared the Arkham district, Bruce noticed Selina slowly easing into her surroundings as it got closer to home for her. She had grown up on the streets, and the comfort seemed to flood away from Bruce and build up in Selina.
The area around Arkham Asylum though, was closed off to the public. The taxi ride stopped when it reached its block-wide radius around the asylum, and Selina and Bruce got off. Bruce stopped at the huge gate in the middle of the fence. It was a huge silver gate with the words Arkham Asylum across the top. A guard standing at the gate stared down at Bruce, exasperated. He must have assumed he was being pranked.
"Who are you?" asked the guard.
Bruce stammered before answering, but Selina draped her arm around his shoulder and laughed. "Is this guy for real?"
The guard didn't say anything.
That just made Selina laugh more. "I'm assuming you've seen the Martha Wayne wing of the asylum? Probably worked in it or have friends who do or something? Well this is Bruce Wayne, who's rich enough to make sure you and your family are polishing shoes for the rest of your lives."
Bruce pushed her aside to take a less life-ruining approach. "I came to pay my respects to my mother's wing, if I can."
The guard thought for a bit, then nodded. "Of course, Mr. Wayne."
With the click of a lock, the guard opened the gate for Bruce and Selina. They were told to go to the front desk and wait there. The two walked into the courtyard and into the front door of the asylum. Arkham Asylum was probably built somewhere in the 1700s and was meant to be torn down, but instead, it was left up and filled with inmates. There was almost no security, and even less running the asylum.
The man at the front desk looked old and tired, speaking with a hoarse voice.
Bruce went up to him, Selina behind him. "I'm here to visit a family friend. Can I see Jack Buchinsky?"
The man sighed again, and Selina wondered if everyone in the asylum was grumpy that afternoon.
Eventually, the man gave and walked them down the halls of Arkham. It started with the hospital facilities and stations, and soon, past locked doors, they came by the inmate's cells.
Each of the metal doors with one window in the middle were lined up next to each other, protecting small, five-by-five cells. Sometimes, one would by unoccupied, but most of them contained an inmate. Bruce would jump sometimes when he heard one screaming or talking. Then, after a few minutes of walking down the aisle, he heard laughing.
"Hey!" yelled an inmate from behind the window. "You're Bruce Wayne! Don't tell me Bruce Wayne went crazy too."
Bruce jumped back, but stared at the inmate. The name on his door said Jerome Valeska.
"And who's this? Your girlfriend?" Jerome asked, and then burst out in the most evil laughter Bruce had ever heard. Selina wondered if there was always a huge, evil grin plastered on his face.
Not wanting to look stupid in front of the inmates, Selina retorted. "We're just friends."
That just made Jerome smile more. "Let me guess. Middle-school romance? What if she died? How would you feel about that?"
The two just walked away, leaving Jerome babbling behind them. "What if you saw her bloody, mutilated body on your sidewalk with a smile sewn on her face? What kind of boyfriend would you be then?" And then more laughter; evil, bloody laughter that scraped away at Bruce's soul.
Bruce, Selina, and the man kept walking until they reached a cell at the end of the hall, where Bruce could see Jack Buchinsky through the window. He had aged considerably since the photo was taken; he now had a white beard and looked as if he was in his seventies.
The man banged on the door to get Jack's attention, and then left back for the desk. Buchinsky looked over at Bruce and Selina.
"Are you Jack Buchinsky?" Bruce asked, a little too quietly.
Jack frowned. "I prefer the Electrocutioner to Jack Buchinsky, thank you."
Bruce looked back at Selina, who shrugged. He put his hand up to the glass and kept Jack's rapt attention. "Do you know Richard Van Groot?"
"I used to."
"Would you know anything about the Court of Owls?"
It was only then that Jack got off his bed and came up to the window. "I know that they're far too dangerous for two children to look into."
Selina scowled. "Get to the point old man."
Bruce tried not to show impatience. "You used to be a mechanic for Wayne Enterprises. What happened that landed you in here?"
Jack didn't seem to show much restraint in telling Bruce his story. "I had a deal with Richard Van Groot to produce electronics when Maroni tried to buy them. We both said no, and that's when the owls came. I knew Maroni was behind it, but Richard didn't. He was driven out of Gotham, and the Talons came for me. Luckily, I was able to kill them by sending electric currents through the ground."
Selina whispered to Bruce. "Maroni must have been trying to buy stuff for the Owls. When Jack said no, the Owls must have driven out Van Groot to punish him."
Jack nodded. "They called me insane. They said the Court didn't exist, but I always knew. Now I wonder what business you two have with the Court of Owls."
Bruce ignored his question. "Tell me about Thomas Wayne. Did the Owls do anything to him?"
"Thomas Wayne? I haven't heard that name in ages. I knew him well, and I'm absolutely sure that he wouldn't have wanted to sell out to Maroni."
Starting to understand, Bruce went silent for a minute. "So the Owls killed Richard Van Groot and my dad so you would sell Maroni your tech?"
Selina stepped up to the window. "What kind of tech?"
Jack scowled. "That is the most likely fate of Thomas Wayne. As for the tech, I was developing a valence current-splicer. As you know, electric currents travel along conductors, my invention allowed static attraction from air particles, allowing a current to flow through them. Thomas Wayne wanted to create a more efficient method of power transfer, but Maroni could have used it to electrocute entire cities, held Gotham to ransom."
"That explains why the Owls didn't kill you when they killed your parents." Selina said. "They needed you, but they had to punish Jack Buchinsky."
Despite everything Selina and Jack were saying, Bruce shook his head, a tear almost running down his cheek from talking. "No. If their sole purpose was to punish Buchinsky, only my father would've been shot. There has to be another reason, otherwise, my mother would still be alive."
Selina nodded and turned to Jack. "Buchinsky, is there any other-"
Selina was cut off by a bullet or small knife or something flying through the air between Bruce and Selina, breaking the glass window and making a bloody mark in Buchinsky's forehead. Before Bruce could understand what had happened, Jack fell to the ground, dead.
Everything seemed to happen in that split second. Bruce's head darted to where the knife had come from. There was nothing but an open window. Suddenly, a Talon, fully-armoured and wearing an owl mask, jumped through the open window and broke into a run down the hall away from Bruce. He turned back to Selina to find her running the opposite direction. He didn't have the time to decide to chase the Talon or run with Selina before the Talon hit a select few buttons on the panel at the end of the hall.
Bruce ran as fast as he could in the same direction as Selina, his chest heaving, as Jack Buchinsky's cell door opened. He didn't see the others opening, but he heard the creaking of the cells next to Buchinsky's. All the cells in the area opened, and a few of the inmates started peering out of their cells, testing the waters. One of them didn't care.
The very second Bruce ran by, Jerome Valeska slammed his cell door open and jumped out, declaring, "Thank God I'm free, what kind of hotel is this?"
In one fluid motion, Jerome grabbed Bruce's lapel and pinned him against the wall with his forearm, Bruce gasping for air.
"You look like you're going to be a lot of fun!" Jerome sneered, a giant evil grin forming on his face. "It's not every day you kill a rich kid like you."
Bruce was able to break free and run for the door when Jerome's arm jerked back in pain. Selina had grabbed his other arm and twisted it back, forcing Jerome away from Bruce. His attention shifted from Bruce to Selina.
"And who are you?" he asked, Selina's fighting making him laugh. "I don't know if killing Bruce Wayne's girlfriend will carry the same warm feeling, but I'm a compromising kind of guy."
Selina had fought people before. Her catchphrase was, 'go for the eyes,' but she didn't think she could take on someone like Jerome. She broke into a run after Bruce, which sent Jerome into a laughing fit, and she didn't stop hearing his manic, uproarious laughter until she left the hall.
There will be three parts total to the Court of Owls storyline. This is by far my best received story to date, and I truly appreciate your support. Although they are not listed in the Gotham character list, I did not create Jerome Valeska and Jack Buchinsky. I am so psyched for season two, and a little bird told me that Jerome is making a comeback...